Egypt Interior Ministry Building Burning (Again)

It seems Egyptians are so enamored with revolting they have decided to do the whole thing all over again. And this just one month after the first peaceful revolution in MENA claimed the 30 year rule of Hosni Mubarak, and everyone thought Gaddafi would step down just as quietly and peacefully. Well, while Gaddafi appears rather set on staying, and protecting his 144 tons of gold, the Egyptians have decided to burn the place down once again.In the meantime we keep awaiting the Bank of Egypt's official updated recount of its gold stash which, admittedly, was half of Libya's.

The Egyptian Interior Ministry was on fire Tuesday in downtown Cairo following a protest earlier in the day.

Flames could be seen on the roof of the multi-story building, and a dark plume of smoke loomed over the city. People could be seen fleeing the building as it burned.

The ministry was the site of a peaceful protest Tuesday morning and afternoon, with thousands of ministry employees - many of them police officers - making demands, mainly for higher wages. But protesters at the building denied setting the fire, saying it originated inside.

It looks like a move by those inside the building to discredit the protestors... Not exactly a new page in the playbook, there have been 'agent provocateurs' sent into every major protest for atleast the last 15 years! They outed them in Quebec, when they noticed the troublemakers and the police were wearing the exact same type of boot!

Any way, check out the Capital Research Institute's latest "The Day The Standards Died":

We have spent a lot of time discussing the Gold Standard and what it means to have the world reserve currency here at the Capital Research Institute. But today we want to look at something a little different, but just as crucial: the importance of accounting standards. OK, OK, I am hearing the yawns already, just bear with me! When the Financial Crisis hit in late 2008 not only did Capitalism die, when the Government decided bankrupt firms (of their choosing) should no longer be exposed to the risk of failure! The history books are going to be speechless on that one, and will simple relate: “It seemed like a good idea at the time!?!?” But what may have slipped under a lot of (non-accounting) people’s noses was that accounting standards were also effectively removed at that time. The most important of which were mark-to-market accounting rules.

If gold was in money the accounting standards wouldn't matter a hoot. I would simply store my money in a vault or safe deposit and you would either need to convince me to my satisfaction that your investment was a good idea or I simply wouldn't invest, not in your proposal or even in a bank, because I would not need to. As things stand now if I don't obtain a return on my investment then central bank inflation will destroy its paper worth.

And there's the problem. If gold was in money and I simply held onto my money the banks wouldn't be able to buy government debt, which means a sovereign default... or no aircraft carriers and free medical.

Not only does the gold standard allow me to keep my money but it requires fair rates in forex markets, so he who prints suffers inflation but to a large extent it also renders all this bullshit FDIC and FASB, FSA, CFTC SEC etc and accounting standards largely moot.

Right now there isn't a gold standard, so accounting standards matter. Even if there was a gold standard it should still be illegal (not *merely* frowned upon) for public companies to blatantly lie about their financial condition.

No worries. POMO evidently is more powerful than an geopolitics, data, fraud, natural disasters and nuclear fallout. I wish I was being sarcastic but apparently it is true.We have POMO the rest of the week too right? Giddy up.

Zbig put in a personal appearance on PBS yesterday along with Scowcroft. I don't think things are going as planned. Jim Lehrer looked like he has about to drop a brick listening to Scowcroft's rebuttals to Z's big plans and warnings this MENA mess could turn out very badly.

Z just sat there like a sphinx issuing his pronouncements . It was Lehrer who was blindsided by the idea that there could be a diffence of opinion, or that all these revolutions could actually have a downside, unintended consequences, and a cost.

The people have not accepted this transition from the day it was foisted upon them. There have been non-stop strikes and an almost perpetual turnover of satraps and lackeys in an effort to stave off the REVOLUTION.

The same media who were so eager to broadcast (Mu)Barak's overthrow by a military junta just haven't had much interest or desire to continue telling the story.

democracy is messy, and takes long time to develop. take a good look at US ourselves. There is no V-shaped democracy. its U or L shaped, with a long period of time at the low. during this period, mafia, politicians, and people with guns rule the country. if this is one country doing this, the world will go on fine. if all these little countries are doing this, its gonna be a total mess. receovery? it's gonna be a lot worse before it gets better.

There is nothing 'better' about the form of mob-rule known as democracy.

Putting a gun to my head and calling it peace is no way to organize a society. Until individuals stop apathetically empowering madmen to rule over us all, violence and social decay will be ever present.

Free people, having the freedom to own their own lives, and freely trade their property with others is how a stable society forms. As this represents work, criminals instead choose to pillage via the political system of force.

You have to wonder how that would play out. Has there ever been a revolution in a country that has nuclear weapons? I imagine they would have to squash that rebellion at any cost to keep nukes from falling into anonymous hands. Either they would have the rulers pretend to step down while instituting new ones that answered to the same people, or they would massacre the rebels using any means necessary.

An evocative headline. I don't get the impression that Egypt is, ah, under anyone's control right now. Hussein, Mubarak, Khaddafy are like scabs; you rip them off, you find a lot of pus. What a tragic farce, to try to graft Western Democracy and Consumerism on the MENA. All we ever really did was install strongarms to keep the oil flowing. The shithouse is going up in flames before our eyes.

Being ensconced in the U.S., my immediate concerns are how we are going to deal with $5 gasoline.

Indeed. However there's no reason to think the REVOLUTION is going to go quiet all the sudden when the documentation of the Police & interior department thuggishness goes up in smoke . . . especially when the signs of electro-shock on flesh remain visible.